April Fools' Day
Overview
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day although not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, enemies and neighbors, or sending them on fools' errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. Traditionally, in some countries, the jokes only last until noon. If you play a trick on someone after this time you are the April Fool. Elsewhere, for example in France, the jokes may last all day.
The City of Developers often put in inventive easter eggs for April Fool's Day. Here are the jokes that we have thus far been the butt of.
2005
Temp Power Vomit. This power description was added into the game to fool players into believing we would have access to the power. The power is not accessible by any means, which drove some players bonkers trying to figure out how to get it.
2006
Fool badge. This badge was added into the pigg files to fool any players dubious enough to be snooping around into believing there was such a badge that they could achieve. There is no such badge and players again were totally had when they rushed the forums questioning it's validity.
2007
Temp Power Foam Bat. This power description was added into the game to fool players again into believing there was a new Temporary Power they could get. The power does not exist in the game at all (unlike Vomit, which is used by NPC Vahzalok zombies) and players were once again fooled.
2008
Note: comment about the article, the fever, and later on that a "We hope you enjoyed this April 1st News Item!" was added to the thread and page itself (at 8:54 pm EST on the same day)
Article: City Of Heroes Announces Visual Sounds!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
NCsoft NorCal is proud to announce a new feature for the City of Heroes® and City of Villains® games; that of Visual Sounds. Visual Sounds are based on the comic book staple of onomatopoeia, or the use of a word to replace a sound. Classic comic book examples are “Pow” and “Ka-Boom!” in colorful bubbles while heroes and villains are slugging it out. City of Heroes takes a huge stride forward by replacing simple sounds with the exciting new visual medium of Visual Sounds.
“I know it sounds crazy,” said Brian Clayton, the Executive Producer and head of the NC NorCal office, “but our research shows that a lot of people are building their own computers nowadays, and sometimes you forget to purchase speakers or headphones. Our market is those gamers who want a full gaming experience without having to listen to the game.” Visual Sounds will be included in the upcoming Issue 12, which is being re-christened “Issue 12: Pow, Biff, Boom, Bam!” in honor of this new system.
“I have always been an advocate of using the theater of the mind,” said Matt “Positron” Miller, Lead Designer on the titles. “When you read a book, you give the characters their own voices, and when you watch a movie based on that book you can’t help but be disappointed when what your mind came up with was better. That’s the way this system works. Whatever sounds we put into the game can’t compare to what you can imagine with your own mind, so why even try?”
Ken Morse, the Lead Artist on the title was excited. “It’s going to be a lot more work for our department, but I think the end results are totally worth it.” He said. Players can optionally disable the Visual Sounds in the options menu, but are encouraged to keep them on, as all the sounds in the game are being removed to make room on the players’ hard drives for the new Visual Sound graphics.